The Artist in American Society

The Formative Years

What was the place of the artist in a new society? How would he thrive where monarchy, aristocracy, and an established church—those traditional patrons of painting, sculpture, and architecture—were repudiated so vigorously? Neil Harris examines the relationships between American cultural values and American society during the formative years of American art and explores how conceptions of the artist's social role changed during those years.

Preface to the Phoenix Edition Preface 1. To the Aid of Necessity 2. The Perils of Vision: Art, Luxury and Republicanism 3. The Burden of Portraiture 4. Professional Communities: Growing Pains 5. European Travel: The Immediate Experience 6. European Travel: From Perceptions to Conceptions 7. Art and Transcendentalism: Beauty and Self-Fulfillment 8. Crusades for Beauty 9. Artist Images: Types and Tensions 10. The Pattern of Artistic Community 11. Artists' Dreams and European Realities 12. The Final Tribute Selected Bibliography Notes Index

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